Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. BROWNLEY of California. Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank Chairman Miller and Ranking Member Brown for their help in moving the Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act forward.

I would also like to recognize my colleague from Arizona whose bill honoring the memory of her constituent, Army veteran Sergeant Daniel Somers, has been included.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, the women veteran population is more than 2 million and growing quickly. But our understanding of the experience of women in the military and women veterans is not keeping pace with this rapidly changing demographic.

We agree that one of the most pressing and immediate issues we must address, as Members of Congress, is the tragic epidemic of suicide among all of our veterans. Last year Congress passed the Clay Hunt SAV Act, which required the VA to conduct annual evaluations of its suicide prevention and mental health programs.

I am confident that the Clay Hunt bill will save lives. But recently researchers analyzed data from 23 States and the Suicide Repository on more than 170,000 suicides over a 10-year period.

These researchers found data suggesting that female veteran suicide follows very different patterns than male veteran suicide. The statistics are extremely startling. Suicide among women veterans increased by an astounding 40 percent from 2000 to 2010.

The suicide rate among veteran women is nearly six times higher than among nonveteran women. For women ages 18 to 29, the risk of suicide is even higher, at nearly 12 times the rate of nonveteran women.

We don't know whether the reasons are related to the high rate of military sexual assault, gender-specific experiences on the battlefield, or factors that distinguish differing personal backgrounds, which is exactly the point. Without looking more closely at the root causes, we cannot hope to find better solutions.

Last year the Los Angeles Times wrote about this issue describing the heartbreaking case of Army medic Sara Leatherman. Even before her deployment, Sara had experienced depression and attempted suicide.

She was discharged early from her deployment because of a back injury sustained in Iraq. Suffering from post-traumatic stress and experiencing physical pain from her injury, Sara was not able to live by herself and moved in with her grandmother.

Sara was trying to get her life back on track and was attending community college. Although Sara was receiving VA treatment for PTSD, at the very young age of 24, she tragically took her life. Her family has been utterly destroyed by their loss.

While so very distressing, the VA was unable to help Sara. So we must honor Sara's memory and the memory of other women veterans whom we so tragically lost to suicide by doing our very best to better understand the underlying and unique causes that lead women veterans to take their lives over wanting to live their lives.

I introduced the Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act to do just that by building upon and improving the Clay Hunt SAV Act. My bill will help identify the different mental health and suicide prevention programs that are most effective for either male or female veterans.

My bill will also require the VA to report to Congress annually on the results of this analysis. Finally, my bill will require that VA's evaluation of its suicide prevention programs include specific performance metrics for women veterans.

The Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act passed the House Veterans' Affairs Committee proudly with bipartisan support. It is also supported by the Service Women's Action Network, The American Legion, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Disabled American Veterans, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Vietnam Veterans of America.

Mr. Speaker, this bill will give us more tools in the toolbox to help save the lives of men and women who have bravely served our country with great honor and distinction. One human life unnecessarily lost is one life too many.

I thank my colleagues on the committee for making the Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act a priority. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on this important legislation. The American Legion, Washington, DC, September 11, 2015. Hon. Julia Brownley, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Representative Brownley: On behalf of the over 2 million members of The American Legion, I would like to express our support for H.R. 2915, the Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act. This bill, as written, would improve female veteran suicide prevention programs within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) by amending Title 38 directing the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to identify mental health care and suicide prevention programs and metrics that are effective in treating women veterans. This bill also strives to improve suicide prevention programs for female veterans enrolled in the VA healthcare system.

In 2014, The American Legion passed a resolution urging the President and Congress to sign into law the Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act or similar acts that will expand and improve the care provided to veterans and servicemembers who have mental health issues or are at risk of suicide. Under this Act, the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs would be required to review their mental health care programs on an annual basis to ensure their effectiveness, offer special training on identifying those high risk veterans who are suicidal to their mental health providers, and to improve the process regarding medical records and prescriptions for the purpose of ensuring that there is a seamless health care process for those servicemembers who are transitioning out of the service.

Again, The American Legion supports H.R 2915, the Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act and applauds your leadership in addressing this critical issue facing our nation's veterans and their families. Sincerely, Dale Barnett, National Commander. ____ Military Order of the Purple Heart, Springfield, VA, December 15, 2015. Hon. Jeff Miller, Chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Miller: On behalf of the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH), I am pleased to offer support for H.R. 2915, the ``Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act''. This legislation, if enacted, would help to identify mental health and suicide prevention programs that are the most effective and have the best outcomes among women veterans and would require that the results be reported to both the Senate and House Veterans Committees.

The recent data that has been published is deeply troubling. The data suggests that the suicide rate among women veterans is approximately six times higher than that of women who did not serve in the military.

While the Department of Veterans Affairs is examining why the suicide rate among women veterans is so much higher and how a history of Military Sexual Trauma may be one of the contributing factors, we as a nation must devote the time and resources to support these women who served our country in uniform.

MOPH requests that you bring this legislation before your committee as soon as possible so that America's women veterans understand that this issue will be given a high priority and that their service is appreciated. Respectfully, Robert Puskar, National Commander.

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